Speech delay Q

[2Siobhan]

Hi

My son is 3.8 years old and has a speech delay. When we attended the last session I found out that Nathan would get more therapy if I moved him to a children's centre or school nursery as they don't visit private nurseries (he currently goes to a private one). Anyway I did manage to secure him a place at a school nursery which I was thrilled about. Then the st rang me and said he also got a place at a children's center she referred him to and now I don't know what to do. The children's centre offer much more st than the school but as i plan to send my son to that school so I thought it would easier just to sent him there as I won't have to move him again and my mum works in the school so will be able to pick him up when I start working.

Any advice would be great.

Siobhan

i would keep him at the school. the school can also refer him to the occupational therapist for support. does nathan attend the community s & l therapy? my ds also has speech and language delay (because of a cleft palate mainly but also as he has slight special needs. he sees the community s & l every few months and has five or six sessions once a week. the school also provide extra support for him and he is now involved with the occupational therapist.

My son (3.10) is at the school nursery. It has brought several advantages.

• when the LEA's SN coordinator came in and delivered her first report in January this year, the headmistress of the whole school came to the meeting with us. My husband and I chose an "intervention" that was different to the LEA's initial recommendation and it clearly made a huge difference to the nursery manager and SENCO that the head was there saying "it's ok, the buck stops with me, I will take responsiblity for supporting the parents on this one".

• the big question for us is whether he will be ready for reception without additional support in Sept. 2010. In the school setting, the nursery manager is part of a foundation stage team and meets with the reception teachers on a daily basis and also has weekly planning meeting with her. So when the nursery manager said to me last week that DS2 is not ready for reception in Sept. 2009 but she thinks he will be in Sept. 2010, she is saying that with total awareness of exactly what goes on in the reception classroom and what will be expected of him.

So that continuity thing can be a big deal I think.

unless the children centre will offer tons more speech therapy, I would go with the school nursery. Pretty crappy that they aren't gearing SALT in your area to children's needs but it varies according to type of setting.

I had exactly this dilemma, tried to combine the two and ended up pulling ds out of the chiildren's centre. Although they had a resident SALT he didn't spend any time with her at all during his 4 months there - she seemed to be out and about, in meetings or with visitors. It just didn't work for us.

Ds settled very well in the school nursery, it makes me feel a lot better about him starting at the school this year.

Thanks for the reply's they are really useful. Ds is currently being seen by the community salt. He was referred last summer by audiology and was reviewed in November and they said he had a speech and language delay and play skills delay and he was put on the waiting list for therapy. He was given 5 sessions of group therapy between march and april and was put back on the waiting list and hasn't been seen since. He was refferred by gp to ot in march but still waiting to be seen. The children's centre have what they call an intensive language program which accept 10 children with sal difficulties. They have a salt there every day though he won't be seen every day. In the school salt visit for half a term then spend half a term away.

Dear 2siobhan

are you me? This is why I love mumsnet - there is always a thread discussing the same issues you are facing.

My son 3.6 is at a pre-school where he is very happy. The salt is recommending he go to a school nursery where they have a special salt unit. sounds great but he is settled where he is and he wouldn't necessarily stay on past nursery at this new school as it is out of area (he would be bused for now). I'm worried about moving him now and then again next year and the transport stuff.

also thinking about what reducedfat said about them not necessarily getting that much one-to one anyway. Really not sure what to do? My instinct says not to move him but worried that if i turn down this place I won't get any alternative help? (sorry to hijack your thread btw)

mummysaurus - I would say (obv. subject to you visiting and finding out more!), consider the specialist salt nursery place very seriously - they usually have small classes and staff who are very experienced in kids with language problems - so they can work intensively with kids to improve their language. On the flip side though, when I asked about it on here, a lady who is a SALT said that a school that really knows what it's doing doing can be just as good as a language unit.

Do you feel that your DS is at the stage where he's picking up things from being around other children?

Thanks totalchaos

he picks some things up from other kids - calling me "mum" not mummy and saying "that's not fair" both examples of things he has picked up from my childminder's own older children. Not sure what he picks from other kids at pre-school but he comes back saying their names sometimes.

The pre-school are being v supportive and his key worker who has just had the senco training asked unprompted for photocopies of the salt exercises we've been given.

i will keep an open mind and visit the school.

i'm reluctant because

i don't want too many changes for ds
i'm not sure how the transport would work out as they would need to pick up ds from my childminder three days a week and me 2 days a week
and maybe cos i'm still in denial about my son having sn

no need to feel bad with feeling uncomfortable at sending your kid to any sort of specialist nursery, I think it is a really common feeling, the ed psych told me that a lot of parents turn down places at language units. reason I asked about him learning from other kids is that at that age DS was so behind that he only learnt from me rather than other kids, so 1-1 with an adult would have been far more beneficial for him.

you could ask if you could have a split week - so a couple of days in his current nursery, and a few days at the specialist nursery.

That totalchaos - like your ds my ds does seem to learn best from me or other adults he is close to so i'm sure one to one is the best route. I asked about splitting time but told this is not possible.

I really don't want to stand in way of ds getting the help he needs. its ironic because i'm desperate for him to get assessed and get some help - i think i was hoping for a salt to come and visit him at home or at his current pre-school but I guess that would be unreasonably expensive.

he has delays in multiple areas and some emotional immaturity but i think the priority is helping with speech and receptive language so will very carefully consider the salt unit.

Good point about how much time they actually spend with salt. Another difference between the settings in the age of the children. In the children's centre they are from 18 months to 4/5 much like his current day nursery but the school nursery will be 3-4 year olds. Nathan tends to play with the younger children atm. I am wondering if I send him to the school will it encourage him to play with the children his age or will it further isolate him.

It's hard to weigh it all up isn't it?

There's the stuff about their emotional/social needs, the concern about how much speech therapy they'll get and the practicalities of fitting in our work and childcare.

I always wanted my ds to go to the local school so he could walk there and have local friends. it seemed such a simple little ambition to have for him that i'm to have to let go of it. Sorry for being self indulgent on your thread - i'll go away and a get a grip now i promise.

mummy - these sort of specialist places seem to aim to have a year or two of intensive input, with a view to the children going into mainstream once they have improved as a result of all this input. and if the local school has a decent attitude towards SN/language delay etc then it can be a good place for your son if you decide you don't want to go down any specialist placement route.

Thanks again total - you are very kind to answer my posts. I'm still trying to work out how all the services fit together and work so your answers are really helpful

I rang the children's center and spoke to the st and she said he would get st 4 day which I think sounds great so I really feel like taking the place. I am really upset at the prospect of giving up the place at the school as it and the staff were really great + my mum was really excited about picking him up :-(.

I know it's tough, but if you see it as temporary measure, to put as much into his language etc until he starts proper school next year?

wow - four days of st a week sounds very good.

Stil waiting for salt to send me her report and info on the school.

Apparently if the school st thinks he needs a lot of help he can get up to four days at the school too. I think I will try ringing his inclusion officer on monday and see what she says. School is finished for the summer so can't get any more info there :-(

it's a really rubbish time of year to be trying to sort this stuff out isn't it. Feel worried that I'll only get a week notice that he can go to this unit with no time to sort out childcare etc but I'm probably just panicking unnecessarily - it's the waiting that's the worst.

There's another thread on verbal dyspraxia which I'm on and through it I've got info really backing up what total chaos was saying - if my ds has verbal/oral dyspraxia he needs intensive ST asap and I have to move heaven and earth to get it for him even at the risk of causing emotional upset to him by moving him from a place where he is secure and happy.